Alberto Díaz Ortiz (born 23 April 1994) is a Spanish professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for Unicaja of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

. At a height of in shoes, and a weight of , he plays at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position.

Professional career

Díaz started his professional career at Clínicas Rincón, an affiliated team of Unicaja. He played simultaneously with both teams until March 2014, when he was loaned to

Bilbao Basket Club Basket Bilbao Berri Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., commonly known as Bilbao Basket (), also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. T ...

, until the end of the 2013–14 season. Díaz was loaned again for the next season, this time to

Baloncesto Fuenlabrada Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., known as Flexicar Fuenlabrada because of sponsorship reasons, or just as Fuenlabrada, is a professional basketball team based in Fuenlabrada, Spain. The team plays in the Primera FEB and ...

, a team that finished in the last position of the

2014–15 ACB season The 2014–15 ACB season was the 32nd season of the Spanish basketball league, also called Liga Endesa in its sponsored identity. The regular season started on 4 October 2014 and finished on 24 May 2015. The playoffs, joined by the eight first qu ...

. Finally, in the summer of 2015, he came back to Unicaja, and definitively took a role in the team in the 2015–16 season. In the 2016–17 season, Díaz won the European-wide 2nd-tier level EuroCup, with Unicaja, after beating

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup, and his Valencia Basket ...

in the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Along with winning the EuroCup trophy, Díaz was also named the EuroCup Finals MVP, after he averaged 7.3 points, 3.0 assists, and 1.3 steals, in 21.8 minutes per game, over the three-game series. Diaz signed a four-year contract extension on 7 August 2020. In 2023–24, Díaz won the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

title with Unicaja. He won his second BCL Best Defender award in the 2024–25 season.

International career

Díaz took part of the

Spain national under-18 basketball team The Spain men's national under-18 basketball team ''(Spain Youth national basketball team)'', is the representative for Spain in international basketball competitions, and it is organized and run by the Spanish Basketball Federation. The team rep ...

that won the

Albert Schweitzer Tournament The DBB Albert Schweitzer Tournament (, abbreviated as AST), full name DBB Albert Schweitzer World Under-18 Tournament (), is an international basketball competition that is played between national teams of the Under-18 men's age category. It t ...

in 2012. In July 2014, he won the silver medal at the Under-20 championship played in Greece. After being cut from the final roster of the Spanish NT for

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, he rejoined the team at the eleventh hour in the wake of

Sergio Llull Sergio Llull Melià (; born 15 November 1987) is a Spanish professional basketball player and the team captain for Real Madrid of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He is a combo guard. Llull is Real Madrid's all-time leader in point sc ...

's injury, eventually being an integral part of the Spanish gold medal run, particularly in terms of providing defensive balance to the team, with averages of 5.7 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists. He was praised for his defence on

Dennis Schröder Dennis Schröder ( ; ; born 15 September 1993) is a German professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously played for SG Braunschweig and Phantoms Braunschweig in Germany, bef ...

in the 4th quarter of the semifinals.

Player profile

According to Fotis Katsikaris, Díaz "has an incredible mentality as an athlete. He always plays at 110% and does not know how to practice at a slower pace. I think he's one of the best, if not the best, perimeter defenders in Europe".

Achievements

;With Unicaja * EuroCup: (1) ** 2016–17 ;With Spain *

: (1) **

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Individual awards

* EuroCup Finals MVP: 2016–17 *

Best Defender: 2022–23, 2024–25

References

External links

*
Alberto Díaz
at feb.es
Alberto Díaz
at acb.com (archived) *
Alberto Díaz
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Alberto Díaz – COE – Paris 2024
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Alberto 1994 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Baloncesto Fuenlabrada players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Bilbao Basket players CB Axarquía players Liga ACB players Olympic basketball players for Spain Point guards Shooting guards Spanish men's basketball players Sportspeople from Málaga